Skittish
by The Rogue King
Summary: Jaune is awkward, Velvet is shy. Is it possible for these two to overcome their own insecurities so that they can be happy together? Of course it is, but it'll be hilarious to watch the progress.
1. Prologue

**Hello! So, this is the secret project that I have mentioned (A long running Humor/Romance starring Jaune and Velvet!). Now, before I'm called a traitor, my OTP is still Jaune/Pyrrha, but my second choice would be Jaune/Velvet. I don't know how popular this will get, but like Pyrrha(c) Victory, more response will get me to work faster. I also have my OC story, but I'll probably work on the more popular of the two stories.**

**I'm a little nervous about this one, so I appreciate any reviews, praise or flame and ideas for the story. **

**Enjoy.**

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It quiet in Beacon's library. It was late into a Thursday evening, so there were only two occupants in the book filled room. One was no other than Jaune Arc, working furiously on a new training program. After the incident in the Forever Fall Forest and his new-found confidence, the young hunter decided he wanted to make it up to his team for his negligence by coming up with new ways to improve the team. His friends had already gone to sleep, so he thought that this would be the perfect time to start. The other student that had not retired to their bed yet was the quiet, bunny eared girl, Velvet. From the corner of the room, sitting at her own table, Velvet nervously looked over her book, one that she wasn't even reading, to watch team JNPR's leader. Her cheeks reddening, Velvet knew she would be mortified if Jaune caught her staring, but she was willing to take the risk.

The Faunus couldn't even believe that she developed a crush on a guy that she barely spoke to. Thinking back, she figured that it started a few weeks ago when she was being subjected to torment at the hands of Cardin and the other members of team CRDL. Velvet still remembered that day clearly.

"Hey freak!" Cardin called out to her.

Velvet started to walk down the hall faster, hoping that the bullies wouldn't pursue her. Sadly, Velvet wasn't that lucky, for she soon felt a cruel hand wrap itself around one of her ears and tug. With a cry of pain, the poor girl dropped her books and grabbed at Cardin's wrist, desperately trying to remove his hand. "Aw, did that hurt?" Cardin asked mockingly as the rest of his team laughed.

"Please stop!" Tears started to form in the corners of Velvet's eyes.

"I could, but I'm having too much fun. Besides, you know you like it," Cardin twisted the girl's ear, forcing her to her knees.

"Hey! Cardin!"

The members of team CRDL and Velvet turned towards the source of the call to find Jaune standing with his chest puffed out, despite the nervous expression on his face. Velvet recognized Jaune as Cardin's favorite victim, often seeing the latter pick on the former around the academy. "What do you want Arc? Can't you see we're busy?" Cardin growled.

Jaune quickly lost his confidence as his shoulders sagged and he rubbed his hands together. "I, uh, well, uh, you see-"

"What is it!?" Cardin barked as he pulled on Velvet's ear again, causing her to cry out again.

As soon as Jaune heard the Faunus' yelp, he took a deep breath and looked Cardin in the eyes. "I want a rematch for our fight in Goodwitche's class."

"Oh really," Cardin laughed, letting go of Velvet so that he could stand in front of Jaune. "Aren't you a glutton for punishment?"

"I-I'm n-not afraid of you, C-cardin," Jaune replied shakely.

"Well then, maybe we should fix that," Cardin sneered.

Sky and Russel grabbed Jaune's arms and dragged him behind Cardin and Dove. As they were leaving, Velvet saw Jaune give her a nervous smile and a wink. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Jaune actually didn't want a rematch and just said so so that he could draw Cardin's attention away from Velvet. The huntress later found out, hearing whispers and gossip with her sharp hearing, that Cardin, joined by his team, beat up Jaune brutally and got away with it too because Jaune's aura healed his wounds before any teacher could see them.

Velvet didn't feel any safer at that time, however. Growing up with the abuse she's suffered at the hands of humans, Velvet fully expected Jaune to later seek her out with something that he'd want in return for his help. She assumed that he would either want her to do some of his homework, run some degrading errand or something Velvet thought all boys sought after. She shivered at that last thought and dreaded the time that Jaune would seek her out. However, that time never came and event after a couple of similar encounters, Jaune never asked for anything in return, not even a thank you. They didn't even talk to each other besides a few quick "hi's" in the hallway.

Sadly, though, Jaune's heroics diminished over time and it seemed that he was getting more and more depressed. Eventually, Jaune didn't do anything when Cardin would bully Velvet in his presence. The Faunus girl would even see Jaune hanging out with Cardin and his thugs and even help them with their schoolwork. Thinking that the one kind human in her life turned like the rest of them, Velvet quietly went about her daily life, a little sad over Jaune. That is, until a few days ago, just after a trip to the Forever Falls, Jaune's personality seemed to go through a drastic change. During that day, Velvet was once again targeted for Cardin's cruelty. He seemed more angry than usual and it showed through the harsher pulling he did to her ears. Just as Velvet was going to burst into tears, she heard a familiar shout. "Cardin!"

Cardin muttered under his breath as his grip softened around Velvet's ears. "Yes, Jaune," he spat out venomously.

"I thought I told you to stay away from my friends." This time, Jaune remained confident.

Friend?

Velvet thought to herself. Cardin removed his hand from Velvet, only to clench both of his fist at his side. "Fine," Cardin growled as he stomped away, his team scampering after him.

Velvet rubbed her ears, trying to get rid of the pain when Jaune approached her.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Velvet, unsure of what Jaune's intentions were at the moment, averted her eyes and nodded. "Ok, if you're fine, then I'll, uh, leave you be. Have a good day," Jaune rubbed the back of his head.

"U-uh, thank you," Velvet muttered as she stared at her feet.

"Don't mention it," Jaune smiled sincerely.

"I-if there's anything I c-can do to repay you..." Velvet waited with dread for his answer.

Jaune chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I know what it's like to be Cardin's target and I only wanted to help."

Velvet looked up at Jaune in awe to see his retreating back. She then began to see Jaune in a different light that day and that's when her feelings took form. Today, Velvet wanted to spend some time in the library reading her a good book that she picked up in town. She easily lost track of time as she flipped through the pages and before she knew it, the skies were dark and she was alone. As she was about to close the book and head back to her dorm, the door swung open and Jaune walked in with a stack of notepads and guides to strategy. After realizing who had entered, Velvet panicked and sat back down to hide her face behind her novel. After a moment, she peeked over the pages to find Jaune working at another table. _It looks like he didn't even notice me, _Velvet thought to herself sadly.

When she was sure that Jaune was focused on his work, Velvet quietly stood up and tip toed around him towards the exit. After she realized her feelings for the knight, she knew that she wouldn't be able to even speak to him without her face becoming one big blush and her mouth spewing a stream of gibberish. The bunny eared girl got about half way to the door before the floorboards beneath her foot moaned loudly under the weight. Jaune's head shot up and he looked around the library. When he didn't see anyone, the blonde shrugged and went back to scribbling on his paper. From behind one of the bookshelves, Velvet poked her head out to see if Jaune was looking for her. When she confirmed that he was still working, the young huntress sighed in relief and continued towards the door. This time, she arrived silently, but when she opened the door, it creaked loudly. Without thinking, Velvet jumped out of the library and slammed the door behind her. Knowing that Jaune was sure to hear that, she took off down the hall at full speed without looking back.

Soon, Velvet was back at her dorm, panting and holding her side. Using her scroll, she unlocked the door and slipped into the room. Her teammates were sleeping, so she quietly changed into her pyjamas and got into her bed. "I wish I could talk to him," Velvet whispered to herself, "but he probably wouldn't have any interest in a Faunus."

Velvet continued to berate herself until she finally fell asleep, her thoughts filled with Jaune and how she couldn't even talk to him.

She couldn't help it if she was skittish.

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**Thanks for reading. Reviews and PM's are welcome.**


	2. Class Assignment

**Awesome! Story got the initial good feedback, so I will continue it! Thanks for all the reviews and PM's. Just to answer a few common questions, there will be no love triangle and this is a different story from Pyrrha(c) Victory, so it won't be 20 chapters of one sided frustration (two sided frustration will do this time ;)). Also, the tragic victim was just the set up for the story and the comedy will be more present in this and following chapters.**

**Thanks for the support and enjoy.**

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Velvet woke up the next day, earlier than the rest of her team. Even though she was tired from her later night, she still wanted to get to the showers and get ready while there weren't many people up and about. After her shower, Velvet went back to the lockers to retrieve he uniform and found that she wasn't alone in the room. Lacing her shoe on one of the benches, Pyrrha Nikos hummed lightly, not aware of Velvet's presence. _Isn't that Jaune's teammate? She must of got up early as well_, Velvet thought to herself. Feeling someone watching her, Pyrrha looked up to see Velvet. Blushing madly, the Faunus rushed to her locker, not comfortable wearing only her towel. _She's so pretty. He also has that hyper girl on his team and they're always hanging out with team RWBY. There's no way he would ever notice me with all those girls around time, _Velvet concluded in her mind sadly.

"Exuse me."

Velvet jumped and slipped, landing hard on her bottom. Pyrrha, who been standing behind her, quickly kneeled down with a concerned look. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

Velvet stood back up with a groan. "It's okay. Uh, is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, right! I seem to have lost my hair elastic and I was hoping that you would have one to spare."

Velvet remembered she had one in her locker for emergencies and nodded. After shuffling around a bit, she found it and handed it to the Spartan. "Thank you. I'll see you in class," Pyrrha waved as she left.

Velvet sighed to herself and finished getting ready.

After she finished in the locker room, Velvet got to class early so that she could continue to read her book. Soon, other students started to file into the room. The bunny ears on top of Velvet's head twitched when she heard a familiar voice. "I'm serious guys! The library is haunted!" Jaune waved around his arms to emphasize his point.

"Jaune, there are no such things as ghosts," Ren rolled his eyes.

"But there was some creaking and the door just opened and slammed itself! Plus, the entire time I could swear that something was watching me," Jaune argued.

"It was probably your imagination," Weiss scoffed.

"You did work pretty late last night. Maybe you were tired?" Pyrrha offered.

Velvet buried her face in her book to hide her blushing face from the passing group. Everyone was seated and professor Port entered the room. He handed papers to the students in the front row and asked them to hand them back before he started his lesson. "Good morning class. Today, you will start an essay on the different species of Grimm and their weaknesses. This essay will be worked on in partners, however! Sometimes, in the field, you will be separated from your team and will be forced to work with someone unfamiliar. So! To simulate that experience in a safe enviroment, you will be paired randomly with another student from outside your team."

From the front row, Ruby whined in protest, only to be silenced by a bop on the head from her ill-tempered partner.

"Anyways," the professor cleared his throat, "I will announce the partners. Once you hear your name, please seek out your partner and begin. You have all class to work."

Velvet sat quietly until she heard her name. "Ms. Scarlatina and Ms. Xiao Long."

The bunny-eared girl looked down at the blonde brawler, who was waving excitedly at her. Yang jumped out of her seat and made her way to Velvet. As she walked, professor Port continued to read out the names. "Mr. Arc and Ms. Schnee."

Weiss slapped her forehead in frustration as Jaune fist pumped and ran down the steps.

"Hey there," Yang greeted as she sat down next to Velvet.

"H-hi," Velvet meekly replied.

"Aw, don't be nervous. I'm sure we'll be great together!" Yang smiled.

"Sure. Um... what Grimm did you want to do?" Velvet asked.

Yang snickered. "Well, I don't really want to do any Grimm, but I won't judge if you're into that."

Velvet's eyes went wide. "N-no, I didn't mean-"

"I'm just playing with ya," Yang laughed as she slung her arm around the Faunus' shoulder. "C'mon, let's get to work."

Only ten minutes passed before the duo stopped working. Yang, despite her best efforts, grew bored and was playing with her hair. Velvet, on the other hand, was watching the blonde goofball work with the heiress. "Don't worry snow angel, we'll ace this. Just tell me what you need me to do," Jaune leaned in closer to Weiss with a cocky smile.

Weiss, in response, put her finger on the knights forehead and pushed him away. "First, stop calling me snow angel. Secondly, it'll never happen. Lastly, I can ace this on my own and I don't need you dragging my grade down, so sit there and be quiet."

Velvet narrowed her eyes, angry at Weiss for speaking to Jaune that way and jealous that Jaune was giving her attention.

"Watcha lookin at?" Yang placed her head next to Velvet's, startling her out of her thoughts.

"N-nothing," Velvet stuttered.

"Are you staring at Vomit Boy?"Yang asked, her grin widening.

"N-no!" Velvet averted her eyes as her face started to blush again.

"Wait, you're that girl he stood up to Cardin for, aren't ya?" Yang snapped her fingers in realization.

"M-maybe."

"And his heroics inspired a little crush?" Yang poked the Faunus' shoulder.

Velvet his her face in her hands. "Please stop..."

Yang backed away when she saw that Velvet was getting upset. "Oh man, I wasn't trying to be mean or anything. I'll drop it."

"C-can you not tell anyone?" Velvet looked back to her partner.

"Yeah, of course." Yang replied, even though she knew it was going to kill her not to use this to tease Jaune.

"We better get some more work done if we're going to finish this on time," Velvet pointed to their paper, trying to change the subject.

"Meh, we can do it for homework. I don't mind spending more time with ya. You seem cool," Yang shrugged with a smile.

"You don't care that I'm a Faunus?" Velvet asked nervously.

"Of course not," Yang laughed, "I've hung out with Faunus' before. In fact, my par-"

Yang paused mid-sentence, remembering that Blake did not want her secret revealed to anyone else and how angry she would be if Yang blabbed. "Yang? Are you okay?" Velvet asked after Yang stayed frozen for another thirty seconds.

Snapping out of her self-induced nightmares of how Blake would get back at her, Yang laughed nervously and started to work on her paper again. "Yep, Faunus' are alright! We shouldn't fall to behind on our work though."

"Um, OK," Velvet cocked her head curiously, but helped Yang with the assignment.

The class nearing to end and the two got a fair amount of work done before Velvet spoke off topic again. "Y-you were r-right."

"About what?" Yang looked up from the paper and blinked.

"I d-do have a c-c-c-cr-cr... I like Jaune," Velvet admitted, her face once again burning.

"Well, yeah. I figured that one out," Yang chuckled.

Velvet grew quiet and stared at her hands. "But, uh, that's only cause I got an eye for that kind of thing. I'm sure no one else has noticed," Yang quickly added.

"You won't tell anyone, right?"

"Sure, of course, not a word," Yang nodded, "although, I'm surprised a ladies man like vomit boy didn't make a move on you after he played knight in shining armor. My guess would be that he felt like he would be taking advantage of you if he did. He's a good guy like that."

"Yeah," Velvet agreed as she started to daydream.

"Hey there, Remnant to Velvet, stay with me," Yang snapped her fingers in front of the Faunus.

"I, buh, what? Oh, sorry," Velvet blushed again.

"No prob. You wanna meet after class?" Yang offered.

"Sure, I guess," Velvet smiled back.

"Cool. How about you swing by my dorm. I'll introduce you to my team. Maybe even Jaune as well," Yang waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"I-I don't know if I-"

"Kidding! About Jaune at least, but my team will love to meet you. I'll let you talk to Vomit boy when you're ready," Yang patted Velvet on the back.

"O-OK then," Velvet nodded.

"Great! See you then," Yang stood up as the bell rang, waved goodbye to her new friend and joined her team so that they could go to their next class together.

Velvet gathered her things and headed to her next class as well. She was happy that she made a new friend, and one that didn't care about her ears. Her teammates were nice to her, but they still tended to avoid her in public to avoid the bullies. Velvet was pretty sure that any bully that came near Yang would leave with something broken.

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**As always, I'm glad to hear any ideas and comments.**


	3. Yang's Dilemma

**Chapter 3 is here! Already at 50 followers, I can say that I'm happy that I started this story. If we can hit 100 followers, I'll start posting the name of the next chapter at the end of each update. **

**Not much else to say, so enjoy!**

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After Port's lesson, team RWBY headed off to their next class. As they walked, Yang had an uncomfortable look on her face as if she was restraining herself. Ruby and Weiss were deep in a conversation, Weiss complaining about how Jaune kept rambling about ghosts in the library, so it went unnoticed by them, but Blake, however, could plainly see the unusual state of her partner. "Yang, are you alright?" Blake asked?

"What? Yeah, of course," Yang quickly replied.

Blake, unconvinced, continued to press. "You look like something is bothering you."

"Nope! Nothing," Yang lied as she gave Blake a large, cheesy smile.

"We're about to get to class, so I'll let it go for now, but don't think I'll forget about this. If something's wrong, you should let us know."

"I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong," Yang replied as they entered professor Goodwitch's classroom.

Even while Goodwitch was giving the lesson, Yang squirmed in her seat. It was absolutely killing her that she couldn't gossip about Velvet and her crush on Jaune. She desperately wanted to tell Blake what was on her mind, but she also didn't want to betray her new friend and upset her. By this time, the rest of RWBY noticed Yang's anxiousness, but their fear of professor Goodwitch outweighed their curiosity, so they remained quiet. Eventually, the time for professor to call upon two students to evaluate their combat skills arrived. "Now let's see," the professor started, "how about we pin Ms. Xiao Long against..."

"Not Jaune, not Jaune, not Jaune," Yang whispered to herself.

"Ms. Valkyrie," professor Goodwitch finished.

Yang gave a sigh of relief. She knew that she would have an even harder time not teasing Jaune with the information she held, that is, until she realized that she hadn't seen Nora at all today. "She's not in class today," Jaune called out. "She ate too many pancakes at breakfast and got sick."

"Well then, Mr. Arc, as her leader, you can take her place," the professor responded.

Yang groaned in frusteration as she stood up and walked towards the stage. She got many curious looks and one dejected look from her opponent. "I've gotten better," Jaune meekly offered. "You don't have to look so disappointed."

Yang, seeing the misunderstanding, waved her hands and shook her head, which was a faint red. "No, no! It has nothing to do with your fighting skills. It's um... well, I can't tell you."

"Why not?" The knight asked.

Yang's averted her eyes, not wanting to give anything away about Velvet's secret. "It's complicated..."

"Can you save the teenage drama for after class," Goodwitch interrupted with an annoyed voice.

Both of the students on stage went rigid when their professor's cold voice rang through out the room and took their fighting stances. Goodwitch signaled them to begin, Yang taking the early initiative to fire a round from her gauntlet. Jaune raised his shield in time to block the shot and began his charge. He attacked with a downward slash of his sword. Yang crossed her arms to block and, even though she stopped it with ease, the strike was a lot stronger than she expected.

Showing off, ladie killer? You might wanna flex those muscles for your fans. One in particular

. Yang bit her lip to avoid voicing her thoughts. While she was distracted, Jaune thrusted his shield forward, knocking the brawler back. The fight continued in the same fashion, Yang fighting herself as much as she was fighting Jaune. In the end, Yang still won, but her performance was pitiful and it reflected on Goodwitche's scowl. "That very poor for you, Ms Xiao Long. I expect much better of you. Mr. Arc, good work. It is good to see you improving."

The two returned to their teams. Yang sat down next to her sister, who wore a knowing smile directed to her sister. As her friends were fighting, Ruby studied Yang's reactions and came to a conclusion.

The class ended and lunch began. Team RWBY and the three healthy members of JNPR walked together to the cafeteria. "Hey Yang, are you okay? Even I know I'm not good enough to match you," Jaune asked as they walked.

Yang stiffened when Jaune approached her and she quickened her pace. "I'm fine. Just having an off day."

Her friends gave her odd looks, save Ruby who giggled to herself. Yang managed to make it to the cafeteria and get her food without any more questions, but when she sat down, Jaune sat across from her with a concerned face. "If I did anything to upset you, I'm sorry, but can you at least tell me?" He asked.

Yang silently screamed to herself as she forced a smile. "You didn't do anything. I'm fine, but if you'll exuse me, I have to use the washroom."

Yang stood up and headed to the washroom, taking a deep breath when she was out of the cafeteria. However, she soon noticed another presence following her and she turned to see Ruby with a goofy smile. "Uh... Rubes? What are you doing?"

"I know what's bugging you," Ruby sang her reply.

"You do?" Yang's eyes widened with surprise.

"Yep! You have a crush on Jaune!" Ruby pointed to her older sister with a teasing smile.

"I what!?" Yang half shrieked at the accusation.

"Don't try to deny it, it's so obvious. You're acting all nervous around him and you won't talk to anyone. You know, I never thought I'd see the day where my sister got flustered because of a boy."

Yang was torn between laughing and growling. "Ruby, I don't have a crush on Jaune."

"C'mon sis, he's really nice! Just tell him how you feel."

"But Ruby, I really don't-"

"If you're too afraid, I'll tell him for you. He'll probably get just as embarrassed as you."

Ruby turned to run back to the cafeteria to run, but she was grabbed by her sister who spun her back around. Yang knew nothing good would come from letting Ruby go right now and she concluded that only the truth would resolve this. "I'm not the one with the crush on Jaune, but I do know someone who does."

"What?" Ruby cocked her head to the side.

"Ok, I found out that there's this girl who's fallen for Vomit Boy, but I made a promise to her that I wouldn't tell anyone and I really want to tease Jaune about it," Yang confessed, feeling a lot better now that she at least told her sister her juicy piece of gossip.

"Oh," Ruby blinked a few times before another thought came to her head. "So who is it?"

"I can't say," Yang groaned.

"Come on! I won't tell. Please? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me-"

"Ruby! You're not making this any easier for me!" Yang grabbed her hair and closed her eyes.

Ruby pouted and crossed her arms, but relented. "Fine."

The sisters returned to the table, Yang feeling better enough to act normally. She passed off her morning behavior as the result of an upset stomach. "And a trip to bathroom solved that," Ruby snickered, causing her sister to give her an angry glare.

The rest of day went by without any other incidents, but Yang still had to restrain herself from telling anyone else about Velvet. When classes ended, Yang thought that she could work off some stress in the gym and informed her team that she would be back in a couple hours. After her workout, Yang returned to the dorm, retired but relaxed. _I can do this! It'll get easier as time goes by, right?_ Yang pondered as she opened the door.

As soon as she entered the room, Yang saw Weiss, who seemed to be talking to Ruby, break away from the conversation and make a bee line straight towards her. "Who is it?" The heiress asked, her voice determined.

"Huh?" Yang gave her teammate a confused look, but noticed Ruby's apologetic smile behind Weiss.

"The derranged girl who has an infatuation with Arc. Who is it?" Weiss pressed.

"Ruby!" Yang glared at her sister.

"I'm sorry, it just came out," Ruby whimpered.

She started to make her to her sister, but her path was blocked by Weiss' arm. "Listen here, if there is some way to get that blonde blunder to stop his infernal flirting with me, I want to know how it can be done. Now tell me who it is."

Yang looked to her partner with a pleading look, but Blake replied with a shrug. "I have to admit that I'm a little curious as well."

Yang stated to sweat and backed up against the wall, but each of her steps were matched by the determined heiress. "Guys, I made a promise..."

"And I promise to make your life a nightmare if you don't tell me," Weiss growled.

Yang narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "You can't threaten me. I'm not telling and you'll never change my mind!"

Weiss huffed. "It doesn't matter. I'll find out who it is."

"Good luck with that," Yang smirked, "but you'll never find her."

Not one moment later, a knock came from the door, accompanied by a meek voice. "Um, Yang? I'm here to work on our essay."

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**I have not lost my love for cliff-hangers.**


	4. Close Call

**Chapter 4! Thanks again for all the support and all the reviews. I'm trying to get these done as quick as possible, but updates might come slower for a little while (due to extra shifts at work), just as a heads up.**

**Remember, the bigger my ego gets, the more chapters I write.**

**Enjoy.**

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Velvet stood patiently outside of team RWBY's dorm with a basket of cookies in hand. She remembered Yang saying that RWBY's leader, who was also Yang's sister, had a huge sweet tooth and cookies were her favorite treat. Wanting her first meeting with Yang's team to go well, Velvet went into Vale to pick up the present. A few seconds went by with no response and Velvet considered knocking again when she heard a large bump come from within the room followed by some shouting. "Um..." Velvet was concerned, but didn't want to leave after announcing her presence.

From what she could tell, Yang and another were fighting about something while a third voice was desperately trying to calm them down. Velvet didn't want to be rude by listening in, but she was struggling due to her enhanced hearing.

"Hey... Velvet, right?"

The bunny eared girl froze in place as her eyes went wide. After a moment of being paralyzed, she slowly turned her head to see Jaune standing next to her with a goofy smile. However, his smile was soon replaced with a nervous frown when Velvet didn't respond. "I-I didn't screw up your name, did I? Vilma? Valerie? It does start with a V, right?"

Velvet, for her part, only stared at her crush, wide-eyed and her face slowly turning red. The two stood awkwardly for another moment until Yang's voice boomed from behind the door.

"How about you just meet her first!? We'll have plenty of time to talk about this later."

"Fine. I suppose we shouldn't argue while we have a guest waiting," Weiss could be heard.

The door opened and Yang poked her head out to find the two awkward teens standing outside.

"Uh..." Jaune shrugged to his fellow blonde.

After looking between the two, Yang slapped her forehead and sighed. "I can't believe I've got to deal with this as well," she muttered as she grabbed Velvet's arm and pulled her into the room.

Jaune gave the brawler a confused look. "Welp, see ya later Jaune. We have things to do. Girl things." Yang had a huge, fake grin on her face.

"Ok then..." Jaune walked back to his room and entered.

Turning back to her own room, Yang found Velvet standing nervously in front of her three teammates, who were giving her blank stares. "I-I... um... brought these," Velvet offered, holding up her basket.

Ruby's eyes lit up as she crossed the room at an inhuman speed, grabbed the basket and sped up to her bed to dig into the cookies. "I like her!"

"You know nothing about her. You only know she brought cookies," Weiss argued.

"Yeah, but it's impossible for anyone to be a bad person and bring cookies," Ruby countered.

"So... we're keeping her away from windowless white vans from now on," Blake jerked her thumb to her leader.

"Anyways," Yang cleared her throat and threw her arm around Velvet. "This is my new gal pal, Velvet!"

Velvet, who was staring at her now empty hands, looked up and gave a nervous smile. "Velvet," Yang continued, "this is Weiss, Blake and my sister, Ruby."

Blake waved, Weiss nodded while Ruby grunted while stuffing cookies into her mouth. "Sh-should we work on our essay?" Velvet asked.

"Nah, we can do that later. Right now, we're going hang out and have some fun," Yang responded, harshly patting velvet on the back, causing the Faunus to stumble forward.

Blake and Weiss sat on their beds while Ruby hopped down from hers to join Yang, who sat on the ground in the middle of the room. Velvet kneeled down next to the sisters and played with her hands. "So, Velvet," Weiss started, "it must be awful to be paried up Yang of all people for an assignment."

Yang stuck her tongue out to the heiress, who rolled her eyes. "N-not really. We did get a lot of work done and she's p-pretty fun," Velvet replied.

"Yeah! Take that ice princess!" Yang hooted.

"Well I suppose anyone would be better than the guy I got stuck with," Weiss said with a knowing smirk directed at her blonde teammate.

Velvet shifted uncomfortably on the ground. "H-he can't that b-bad..."

"Weiss..." Yang warned

"Oh, don't get me started. He's irresponsible, unfocused and goofs off all the time," Weiss scoffed.

"Uh oh," Ruby whimpered

"And his constant flirting is obnoxious and annoying," the heiress continued her rant.

Yang stood up, pulling Velvet up with her. "Ok! I'm getting hungry. C'mon Vel, let's get something to eat."

The blonde pulled the Faunus out of the room and tugged her along to the cafeteria. "Shouldn't we wait for your team?" Velvet asked.

"Nah! They're fine. They have those cookies you brought," Yang replied, still pulling Velvet along.

"But your sister ate them all," Velvet pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but, um..."

Velvet stopped and pulled her arm out of Yang's grasp. "They know, don't they?"

Yang rubbed the back of her head and nervously smiled. "Well, you see..."

"You told!?" Velvet accused Yang, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Yang shook her hands in front of her. "No, no, no... ok, so I told Ruby and she told the other two."

Velvet's gaze fell to the ground as she began to sniffle. "You promised..."

Yang's heart cracked at the sight before her. "I know, I know, but I had too! I was trying to keep it a secret, but Ruby thought that I was the one who had a crush on Jaune and she was going to try to us together, so I told her the truth. I'm sorry."

"Your sister was going to try to get you together with Jaune?" Velvet wiped her eyes and looked back up.

"Yeah, she thought she was being nice by 'confessing' for me," Yang laughed, glad that Velvet wasn't upset anymore.

"She's not going to tell Jaune about me, right?" Velvet asked.

Yang's heart dropped and her eyes went wide. She grabbed Velvet's arm again and sprinted back to her dorm. Sure enough, when they turned the corner to the hall were team RWBY's dorm was, they saw Ruby knocking on team JNPR's door.

Jaune, who was working on some, walked over to the door and opened it to see his fellow leader. "Hey Ruby, what's up?"

Ruby opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced when Yang side tackled her to the ground. Velvet arrived and stood next to the wrestling sisters with her hands covering her mouth in shock. Yang managed to get Ruby in a head lock and dragged her back to RWBY's door, kicking it open and pulling her sister inside. "Do you know what that was about?" Jaune asked.

Velvet, who just realized that Jaune was standing there, froze in place once more as her face turned red. Yang poked her head outside again and groaned in frustration. "For the love of..."

The brawler ran out and grabbed Velvet by the collar of her uniform and dragged her into the dorm, slamming the door behind her.

"Uh..." Jaune stared across the hall, confused.

"What was that?" Ren asked, approaching Jaune from behind to look into the hall.

"I'm not sure," Jaune replied, closing the door and returning to his desk.

Back in team RWBY's room, Yang panted and glared angrily at Weiss and Blake. "Why.. didn't... you stop her?"

"We didn't know what she was up to," Blake explained.

"She just left saying that she had something to do," Weiss added.

Yang, accepting the excuse, whirled around to her sister. "And exactly what was that something that you had to do?"

"I was only trying to help," Ruby whined.

"You should've asked Velvet before hand," Yang snapped.

Ruby put her hands behind her back and traced a circle on the ground with her foot. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Velvet smiled from behind Yang. "I'm just not ready to let him know yet."

"Why not?" Weiss asked, worried that her distraction for Jaune might not be up to the task.

"I, um, I'm a little nervous," Velvet admitted.

"Well that settles it then!" Ruby announced.

"Settles what?" Yang asked, fearing the answer.

"You will have the full force of team RWBY to help you get over your shyness and confess to Jaune!" Ruby pointed at Velvet with a big smile on her face.

"Do we have to?" Blake asked, not thrilled at the idea.

"As team leader, it's an order," Ruby declared.

"Y-you don't have to," Velvet meekly interjected.

"Nonsense!" Ruby countered. "You're our friend now and we'd be glad to help. Plus, it's such a tragedy that Jaune doesn't even know that there's such a pretty girl that likes him."

"Yeah! We'll help you Vel. Don't you worry," Yang threw her arm around Velvet's shoulders with a wink.

Velvet could only nod nervously, terrified of what her new friends could be thinking of doing. _I hope this doesn't go too badly..._


	5. Interrogation

**Hey… I'm not dead! To cut a long story short, I had a series of computer troubles and when they were finally resolved, I hit writers block and when I got past that, I had even more computer troubles. But that's done and over with, so I'm back. Anyways, I hope this is worth the wait (although it is shorter than I wanted it). **

**Also, we're at 99 followers. 1 more and I'll star posting the name of the next chapter.**

**Please enjoy.**

Jaune sat at his desk, working furiously on his essay for Port's class. "I'll show Weiss that I can be useful. She won't brush me off when she sees this," the young knight muttered to himself.

"When are you going to face the fact that she's not interested?" Ren asked, working at a much more steady on his essay.

Jaune shot his friend a dirty look before returning to his paper. It was quiet in team JNPR's dorm since Nora and Pyrrha went to go work with their partners. Ren divided the work evenly with his partner and agreed to meet up the next day to put it together.

The two continued to work silently until a knock came from the door. "You get it," Jaune grunted, "I'm still confused about what happened last time."

Ren rolled his eyes, but stood up. "Do you really think that you're not going to be involved with whatever is behind that door?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's probably your partner or something," Jaune replied.

Without taking his eyes off his leader, Ren swung the door open and stepped to the side, revealing Yang and Blake. "Hey Jauney-boy! Mind if we borrow ya for a while?"

Jaune scowled at Ren, who was smirking back at him.

With a sigh, Jaune rose from his seat and left the room. "What do you need?"

"Walk with us," Yang slung her arm around Jaune's shoulders and motioned him forward, "we wanna talk with you."

"Uh… ok?"

Jaune started to move with Yang, although he didn't have much of a choice. Blake followed the two with the same stoic expression she wore since the arrived at team JNPR's door. "So…," Jaune started.

"Something on your mind?" Yang asked cheerily.

"about what happened earlier… what was that?"

"What was what?"

"When Ruby knocked on our door… and you… and Velvet."

"Oh, that? That was girl stuff. Personal girl stuff." Yang's face turned dark. "Did you want to talk about that?"

Jaune went red as he shook his head. The three continued with Jaune staring at his feet now. Yang gave a quick look back and winked to Blake, who gave a small smile in response.

"So Jaune, any luck with the ladies lately?"

Jaune gave an inquisitive look to Yang. "No. Why?"

"Just curious. The ice princess still acting cold to ya?"

"What's all this about Yang?"

"Well you see…," Yang shoved the other blonde, "now!"

Before he could even register what was happening, Blake dashed ahead of him and opened one of the doors in the hallway while Yang steered his stumbling body into the room. When he came to a stop, Jaune found himself in a small janitors closet. Yang and Blake entered in after him, closing the door behind them and pulling a cord, switching on a dull light.

"W-what are you doing?" Jaune half yelled.

"If we weren't already helping Velvet, this would be really kinky," Yang whispered to Blake, who responded by flicking her teammate in the ear.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, Jaune," Blake finally spoke up

"A-about what?" Jaune asked meekly.

"Why are interested in Weiss?" Blake demanded an answer.

"What do you mean?" Jaune stared at the Faunus with fear and confusion.

"Are there any other girls you like?" Yang shoved her face into Jaune's.

"Wha? I-" Jaune reeled back into the wall.

"Do you prefer younger or older girls?" Blake interrupted.

"Do you have any weird fetishes?" Yang pressed.

"Is personality important or is it just looks that matter?"

"Boxers or Briefs?"

"Do you- wait, what?" Blake turned to her partner with an angry glare.

"What? I wanted to know," Yang defended herself.

"Uh guys. Can I go now?" Jaune, terrified, looked between the two girls.

"Looks like he's not talking," Yang smirked to Blake.

Blake mirrored her partner. "You're right. Looks like we need to use more drastic measures."

"But I don't even know what you guys want!"

Meanwhile, Ruby, Weiss and Velvet remained in team RWBY's room. "Maybe I should work on the essay while they're out," Velvet mumbled awkwardly.

"Don't be silly, they won't be long," Ruby countered, "let's become better friends!"

"Well, we talked about boys. Or a boy. So now all we have to do is try on clothes and paint our nails, right?" Weiss added sarcastically.

Ruby stuck her tongue to the heiress before looking back to Velvet. "There's still no point on pulling out your essay. They just went to go find out Jaune's favourite restaurant for when you ask him out. How hard could it be?"

"OH GOD, WHY!?" Jaune screamed.

Blake had shoved the poor boy to the ground and restrained his arms and legs while keeping his head straight. Yang was kneeling next to the two with her finger in her mouth, swishing her saliva. The brawler removed her finger, which was coated in spit and stuck it in Jaune's ear. "Are you ready to talk?" Yang asked with a malicious voice.

"I was always ready to talk! Why are you doing this?"

"Hmm. Sounds like you're still resisting," Blake snickered.

"I mean yes Ma'am!" Jaune lightly sobbed. "I'll tell you what you want!"

"Good. Where do you like to eat?" yang's demeanour returned to being cheery.

"What?"

Yang twisted the violating finger, causing Jaune to cringe. "Uh, uh, the diner by the docks in Vale! They serve really good fries!" Jaune cried.

"Great! Thanks Jaune," Yang removed her finger while Blake released him. "we'll see you later."

The girls left the closet, leaving Jaune on the floor, confused and mortified. The duo returned to the room where Ruby bounced excitedly to them. "How did it go?"

"He likes some diner by the docks in town. We'll scope it out the next time we go shopping," Yang answered.

"Awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "Phase one is complete! Phase two: clothes shopping!"

"We can go after class tomorrow," Blake suggested.

"Sounds good," Yang nodded, "but for now, let's go get some dinner. Inter- er, questioning Jaune built up an appetite."

Velvet followed team RWBY into the halls, feeling a little better about their plan. _Maybe this will actually work. Well, if the rest of it goes as well as phase one_. As the girls exited the dorm, they spotted Jaune walking down the hall, rubbing the side of his head. "Hi Jaune!" Ruby called out.

Jaune's head shot up to see Yang and Blake standing behind the others, each with a finger pressed to their lips and a murderous look in their eyes. Without a word, Jaune bolted to his room's door, tripping as he got there and then scrambling into the dorm. "What did you two do to him?" Weiss asked with a suspicious glare.

"We only asked him a few questions," Blake responded innocently.

"Then why was he so scared?" Ruby pressed.

"He was probably nervous to be around such a pretty gal like Velvet," Yang suggested as she slapped the rabbit Faunus' rear end, causing Velvet to yelp.

"Leave the poor girl alone," Weiss intercepted herself between Velvet and Yang. "It's bad enough that she has some unfathomable attraction to Arc."

"I bet she wouldn't get upset if it was Jaune spanking her," Yang snickered.

Velvet's blush deepened a few more shades as she cowered behind Weiss. "Yang!" Ruby warned her sister.

"Alright, alright," Yang raised her hands to surrender. "It'll be pretty late when we finish dinner. Do you want to work on the essay tomorrow, Vel?"

"A-aren't w-we shopping t-tomorrow?" Velvet asked, still recovering from her embarrassment.

"Oh, right! Well, we'll get to it eventually," Yang shrugged.


	6. Shoppin Trip

**Chapter 6! I know the chapters are coming a little slower and I'm sorry, but I've been busy lately. I'm glad the story wasn't completely forgotten and now that we've passed 100 followers, I'll start posting the name of the next chapter at the end.**

**This chapter is based off the costume design contest. If you don't recognize the references, you should the RWBY production diary. You should watch anyways because it's great.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading.**

Velvet sat in class, conflicted about her evening plans with team RWBY. On the one hand, she was excited to go out with a group of friends like a regular teenage girl. However, her friendship with Yang and the others was still relatively new and she was still scared that they would turn out to be another group of humans who treated her like a lowly animal. Despite her feelings though, she remembered the regret in Yang's eyes when she found out that the brawler told the rest of team RWBY about her crush. With that image in mind, the Faunus decided to take the risk.

The lunch bell rang and Velvet packed up her notes and headed to the cafeteria. She was hoping to meet up with Yang so that they could work on their essay since they would be busy after school. When Velvet arrived at her destination, she easily spotted Yang's wild mane among the rest of the students. Velvet lightly jogged over to the line-up for food where Yang was standing when she started to pick up the conversation that the blonde was having. "So you're not even a little curious as to what it was about?"

"Really, Yang, I just want to forget it happened."

Velvet froze, her hand inches away from her new friends shoulder. The bunny eared girl realized that Yang was talking to Jaune, who was thankfully turned away.

"Eep!" Velvet yelped as she sped back out of the cafeteria.

Both Yang and Jaune turned around in surprise, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Did you hear something?" Yang asked.

"I… thought I did," Jaune replied.

Velvet stopped in the hall to catch her breath. "Well, we could always work on it later."

The day continued on normally until the final bell rang. Professor Oobleck finished what should have been a ten minute lecture in the span of thirty seconds before zipping out of the room. Most of the students, who only caught a few words from their teacher, gave up on trying to complete their notes and left the class. Among them, was Velvet, who was going to get back to her room to get ready when she felt a lithe arm wrap itself around her shoulders. "I found her!" Velvet recognized the voice as the red themed leader of RWBY.

The rest of the younger girls team met up with them. "Ready to go?"

"Shouldn't we get changed out of our uniforms first?" Velvet asked.

"That's part of the fun!" Ruby answered. "We'll go out in our uniforms and return in brand new outfits."

"But my wallet is back in my room."

"No prob," Yang smiled as she ruffled up Weiss' hair, "Princess is paying."

"What!?" Weiss shrieked. "I never agreed to that."

"But you're totally loaded. And isn't a little money worth Jaune and Velvet's happiness?" Yang pleaded, trying to mimic her sister's puppy dog face.

However, Yang's act broke when it was met only with Weiss' cold stare. "Well, um… if you get Velvet something nice and flashy, it might take away Jaune's attention from you," the brawler offered.

Weiss thought for a moment before nodding. "You're right. I also don't mind buying a present for my new friend."

"Yes!" Yang punched the air as she cheered.

"But _you_ can pay for your own clothes," Weiss ended Yang's good mood by sticking a pale finger in the blondes face.

"What? No fair! We're friends too!" Yang complained.

"Yes, but I find Velvet to be much more pleasant," Weiss countered.

Velvet lightly giggled at the exchange. "Are they always like that?"

"Yep!" Ruby joined the Faunus' mirth.

"I just wonder when they're going to start making out," Blake added.

Weiss' face lit up as she glared at Blake. "I would never do something so… so indecent with something like that!"

Weiss gestured to Yang, who looked like she was deep in thought. "I don't know. I'd give it a try."

"Don't you even think about it," Weiss growled.

"Relax, I'm not going to try anything here," Yang laughed as she started to walk to the school entrance.

Weiss let out a sigh of relief, but chocked on her spit when Yang added "but how heavy of a sleeper are you?"

"She's kidding right?" Weiss turned to Ruby.

"I honestly don't know," Ruby shrugged as she chased after her sister.

The girls continued to chat and Velvet was even feeling comfortable enough to join in as they got on the air shuttle to Vale. When they arrived at the town, Velvet was rushed to the nearest clothing shop. Inside, the four other girls rushed around the place, save for Blake, who casually browsed the store. Velvet watched the others with wonder as her friends collected several outfits. After a few minutes, the bunny eared girl had to extend her arms to catch the sudden mountain of cloth that was thrown at her. "Alright. Let's head over to the change rooms so that you can try these on," Velvet's ears picked up on Yang's voice from the other side of the overbearing load.

Legs trembling due to the wait, Velvet did her best to follow Yang's voice to their destination.

Barely managing to enter the room, Velvet set down the outfits on the bench in the small room and closed the door behind her. "Try the first one on and show us," Ruby called from behind the door. Velvet removed her uniform and put the top articles of clothing. When the door opened, it revealed the Faunus in a pink and red piece with thigh high socks and a large pink bow. "W-well?"

"It's good, but…" Blake tapped her chin in contemplation.

"The bow seems to be a little much," Yang concluded.

"What if we get rid of it?" Ruby offered.

"Then the outfit would seem too plain," Weiss commented.

With four thumbs down, Velvet re-entered the change room.

When she opened the door again, she was dressed in a black and brown outfit accessorized with brown gloves, skit and a scarf that wrapped around her face. "Hmm," Yang scrutinized the clothing.

"Points for combat skirt!" Ruby cheered while Weiss nodded.

"No," Blake shook her head.

"I agree. We don't want you hiding your face behind that scarf," Yang added.

With a sigh, Velvet entered the room again to change.

A few more moments later, Velvet revealed her next outfit, which was black boots, brown pants, a black mini skirt and a crimson overcoat that extended to her ankles. "Wow, that one looks so cool," Ruby exclaimed.

"It is very interesting, and in a good way," Blake added.

"I like it," Weiss approved.

"It looks like you're going to take Jaune for some wild nights," Yang snickered with a wink.

At the last comment, Velvet blushed furiously and darted back into the change room. "I-I think I-I'm g-going to try a different one."

The other three glared at Yang, who shrugged. "It was a joke."

Once again, the door opened and Velvet stepped out. Team RWBY's mouths went agape at the sight before. "It's perfect!" Ruby cheered.

"Definitely," Blake agreed.

"It looks great," Weiss added.

"I think we have a winner!" Yang gave a thumbs up.

Velvet was wearing a light blue jacket was cut off at her midriff and matched by a pair of short shorts of the same colour. Instead of showing skin, however, black cloth covered the rest of her body. To top it off, in was accentuated by gold armour on her shoulders and waist. "Is it really that good?"

"Heck ya!" Yang enthusiastically replied.

After some shopping, the girls headed back with their new clothes, which Weiss was begrudgingly convinced into buying. The girls entered the academy, laughing when they heard a familiar voice. "Hey guys."

Behind them, Jaune and Ren approached. "Where were you?" Ren asked.

"Out shopping. Like the new looks?" Yang winked.

The boys observed their friends when Jaune noticed the brunette Faunus. "Oh, hey Velvet."

Velvet froze, wide eyed. "What do you think about Velvet's new little outfit?" Yang asked while pointing to the skin tight cloth wrapped around Velvet's legs, staying out of the Faunus' field of vision.

Ren rolled his eyes, but Jaune blushed at Yang's actions and turned away. "I-it looks g-great," the knight nervously chuckled.

"Don't you need to meet Pyrrha for your training?" Ren asked his leader.

"Oh crap! Right. Sorry guys, I've got to go," Jaune yelled as he took off down one of the many halls.

Ren nodded to the girls before continuing on his way.

"Looks like you got a good reaction out of Jaune," Yang chuckled as she patted Velvet on the back, but the girl didn't respond. "Uh… Velvet?"

"He spends a lot of time with Pyrrha, doesn't he?" Velvet asked a little dejected.

Team RWBY looked between themselves with concern. "I'm sure it's nothing," Ruby tried to comfort the brunette.

"I'll talk to Pyrrha tomorrow to see what's going on between them," Weiss declared.

**The next chapter: Trojan Horse**


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